Causes

The Boxer Uprising

  • The Boxers wanted to drive people who were not Chinese away from China because those people were contaminating the country with their foreign ways.
  • When the Boxers attacked the foreigners in China, Japan and the European powers formed a multinational force to defeat the Boxers.

Rush for Westernization

  • After the Boxer defeat, women were allowed to attend schools for an education, and the Chinese began to emphasize math and science over Confucianism.
  • Westernization helped the economy grow.
  • A reformer who supported the idea of a Chinese republic was Sun Yixian (or Sun Yat-sen). He arranged the Revolutionary Alliance, wanting to recreate China with the "Three Principles of the People":
    1. Nationalism (ending foreign domination)
    2. Democracy (a representative government)
    3. Livelihood (economic security)
  • In 1911, uprisings against the Qing dynasty began.

-THE QING DYNASTY FALLS-


Effects

Short-Term

  • Sun Yixian became president of the new Chinese republic in December 1911.
  • China divided into regions controlled by local gentry and warlord leaders.

Long-Term

  • Sun Yixian's region was constantly struggling for power against the warlord armies, Qing loyalists, and an increasing communist movement for 37 years.

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